Devon was having “a week”. Two days into the hop, the main source of gossip in the stewards lounge and on the online digital board was the new pilot. New hires outside the stewards department were rare, and there was a bit of a romantic mist hanging around the pilots for the rest of the crew. Well, maybe engineers didn’t care, engineers were weird and secular in their own way. 

Pilots were like superstars on the ship. Everyone hated them for looking down at others and acting all important. But then everyone still kind of liked learning every private thing about them and gossiping away. For example, Andrade was the worst asshole on Hopestar, and yet everyone who had to deal with him was more than happy to tell stories of horrible interactions, chaotic one night hookups, and messy breakups. Additionally, it was fascinating to watch the feud between him and Haasan go on. Especially, because the captain had to mediate it (and it had to be a huge thing if the captain felt like he needed to be involved).

Devon didn’t necessarily care in this particular case. He had his own headache with Sharifa and Shiloh being assigned to the entertainment hall on the fifth deck together and he was stuck in the third deck bar alone with barely any visitors. This made him seethe with anger each time he imagined them being all flirty with each other. Which was almost all the time. So when he returned to his cabin after a shift and a rest period that featured the weekly karaoke first shift party, at which Sharifa and Shiloh sang in duet (twice!), he made a mistake of redirecting his anger at the online board conversation.

He replied about how everyone was silly and they should just go and talk to the new guy if they found him so interesting. And then everyone dared him to do so, including Shiloh. To which he replied that he would, easily.

He regretted it when he woke up, of course. He had little interest in this Rin Richard and had no idea what to even talk to him about. Also, he didn’t want to run around the decks searching for him. However, he soon discovered pretty much everyone was eager to inform him of where the new pilot was spotted just now. Well, he might as well do this and be done with it. And if Shiloh was so interested in gossip, he could learn something extra juicy to only share with her.

Rin was in the third shift, while Devon worked the second. (Maybe it was a bit strange to call someone by their name without knowing them, but Devon was pretty sure “Richard” was the kind of surname the Pan-American Care system would give out to orphans in hopes they will adopt it as their main moniker. It was always generic and didn’t care about any cultural background the kid may have come with. Devon’s one was “Alice” for the very same reason.) There was no day and night cycle on the ship because every passenger came with their own inner clock of when they were comfortable to wake up and go to sleep. Hopestar had a set day count with a fixed amount of hours, which was divided into three shifts. So you could choose to live in one of them or not care at all. The crew strictly followed these shifts, which allowed certain mingling between different shifts during the rest periods. 

Rin was taking his “dinner” in the cafeteria on the fourth deck (which meant he, for some reason, wasn’t taking it with other third shift cockpit crew members) and Devon headed there for a “breakfast” of his own. He took a bit more food than he usually did just so there would be more time for him to ask questions before he had to explain why he was there. Rin sat alone and looked so out of place Devon couldn’t help but pity him. Being a newbie on Hopestar sucked unless someone took you under their wing. (Sharifa was his guide at the start. That was strange to think about in the current circumstances.) Maybe pilots didn’t do that.

Devon put his tray down on the other side of the table and used one of his professional smiles. “Hi, do you mind if I sit here?”

Rin stared up at him and was clearly confused for a few moments before mumbling. “Uh, no, it’s… it’s fine…”

“I’m Devon,” he said cheerfully, sat down, and started cutting his sweet bread into four pieces. He was regretting this dare really much now, because Rin was looking at him with an intensity of an unstamped guy who has met a transgender person for the first time in his life and was utterly confused by the concept. Fuck, will this be a problem?

But finally he said, “I’m Rin. I’m… the new pilot.”

Devon chuckled and mixed the herbal powder into the cup of hot water. “Oh, I am aware. You are wearing a pilot jacket.”

He looked down at himself as if surprised by this revelation then sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Yeah, I guess I am. Sorry, these two days have been a lot.”

Devon smiled and tilted his head. “I can imagine. The ship is enormous and unique, I bet it controls differently from those SpaceShuttle cruisers.”

“Oh yeah, and Mikey clearly wants to stop covering half of my shift and get a proper sleep finally, but there is so much to memorise first…” And he went on venting about concepts Devon had no idea were even a thing, clearly starved for friendly communication. Have other pilots bullied him or something? Or maybe he was afraid of embarrassing himself in front of them with the lack of knowledge? Devon could relate.

With some prompting questions and encouraging comments, Devon managed to learn the following facts: 1) Rin has just graduated from the flight academy and this was his first job; 2) everyone knew he had a diploma and expected him to be a real prodigy; 3) other crewmates on his shift were talking among themselves but not directly with him and he had no idea how to join in without someone inviting him; and 4) both Mikey and Andrade were quite intense but in opposite ways.

“I can imagine,” Devon chuckled after he swallowed the last bit of his protein sandwich. “I don’t know Thoresson personally, but he is known to be a chatty guy. And Andrade is… well, Andrade. Must be awkward when they are in the same room.”

Rin tensed slightly and shrugged with one shoulder. He finished his food a while ago and just sat here talking. “In a way, I guess…”

“Oh, don’t worry, everyone knows Thoresson has a huge crush on the Chief Pilot. It’s been a thing almost since he got hired.”

Rin stared at Devon with a strange confused expression. Was it shyness? “And that’s just… a thing others gossip about ‘round here?”

Now Devon felt his cheeks flush. “Oh, you know. Kinda? It’s harmless, no one would do this maliciously. And pilots and stewards intermingle so little, any bit of gossip gets quite popular.”

The awkward silence hung between them. He felt a bit guilty, Rin was obviously a shy guy so maybe this was a scary thing to discuss so casually. “Do not worry, it’s just gossip. No one is judging. And no one will pry you for information, but if you share something interesting, it will definitely spread.”

Rin pursed his lips. “I have nothing interesting to share.”

“Oh, everyone has something interesting to share! For example, I managed to appeal the stamp twice in court before they finally put it into my ID.”

“I got mine after a medical examination.”

Oh.

Devon knew he couldn’t keep the reaction from his face because Rin read it and looked away with a frown. Is this why other pilots ignored him? Is this why he looked so out of place? Was he one of those med-stamped who felt they were above everyone else because they were “normal, actually”?

“Well, we all have our flaws,” Devon said flatly.

“Everyone’s going to hate me just because I’m not like them.” Rin blurted out. It clearly came from an honest place, and Devon was surprised he actually said it out loud.

“No, everyone’s going to hate you if you act like this difference makes you better than others. Unless you choose not to, then everyone will be more than happy to get to know you. So, I say, get over this weird defensive thing you’ve adopted and look around not through the lens of expectations. You’ll have a better time.”

He didn’t wait for the response and got up with his empty tray. 

Devon really wanted to just have some relaxing time before his shift but rumours spread fast, so half an hour later he was sat down in a crew lounge on deck three and had to relay the conversation to a dozen curious stewards and one stray engineer (they were there fixing the local entertainment system but were clearly paying a lot of attention to what was discussed).

“Seriously, he is straight? He doesn’t look straight.” Sharifa commented sceptically. 

“You can’t determine if people are straight or not by how they look.” This was Mila who worked at the media theatre on one of the lower decks. “Just because he takes care of himself, doesn’t mean he’s not straight.”

“I also agree, he doesn’t look straight.” Shiloh supported Sharifa, and Devon felt his jaw bone grinding in annoyance.

“Well, Devon here is straight, he doesn’t ‘look straight’ though.”

“Oh, but Devon is trans, so it doesn’t count.” Shiloh clearly said this with the best intentions but Devon felt a painful gut punch from these words. He looked around the room, a bit lost in the conflicting emotions, but no one else caught this. That said, no one else but Sharifa, who frowned at Shiloh for a moment, then looked at him and raised one eyebrow questioningly. Devon made a little side shrug and tried not to think about it.

“Who else is straight on the ship? Dr Batt? Was there an engineer?”

“Are you trying to pair him with someone already? Half of us are bisexual anyways.”

“Oh, you know, I’ve heard med-stamped can be weird about that too.”

Devon sighed heavily. “We are sitting here just proving his point. Guy’s clearly terrified of people spreading gossip about him, and that’s what we are doing. Just think back to when you were yet to come out, what did you think about the stamped? Lots of shit we had to unlearn, once it became clear we were one of them. He just got out of the academy.”

Others stared at him. 

“Why do you feel so eager to defend him all of a sudden?” Sharifa tilted her head with a smirk.

He pursed his lips. “I don’t. If he is proven to be a bigot, fuck him. But he didn’t seem disgusted by me talking to him. So perhaps there is a chance he can get over the brainwash. But not if we play into every stereotype.”

This made almost everyone frown. Sharifa shook her head. “It’s not our job to educate, Devon. You don’t owe him or any of them your time.”

Others murmured agreement and slowly dispersed. Shiloh stayed for a bit, looking thoughtful, then smiled at Devon and reached to pat his shoulder. “Thanks for talking to him. Everyone was dying of curiosity.”

Okay, so maybe this was not a complete disaster after all.